GRAHAM, NC,
Nov. 1, 2010
(Press Release) -
The BLANKOPHOR Company, based in Germany, announced it has acquired Kemira's worldwide Fluorescent Whitening Agent (FWA) business. This acquisition includes all intellectual property rights, know-how, brand names, formulas and patents. In addition, the FWA business acquisition includes the Leverkusen, Germany state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, sales, R&D, marketing, application technology, customer service, supply chain, quality control and purchasing. In North America, BLANKOPHOR has now been established as a division of Indulor America LP and will be headquartered in Graham, North Carolina.
Papermakers are constantly striving to improve the whiteness and brightness of paper and for the past sixty years the BLANKOPHOR brand has played an important role in helping them achieve these goals. The BLANKOPHOR brand was established by Bayer more than sixty years ago and has always been synonymous with global papermaker's efforts to produce whiter and brighter paper. Plus, BLANKOPHOR owns numerous patents in the fields of chemical synthesis and the application of FWAs. BLANKOPHOR will continue to invest heavily in R&D and technical support to develop new products that meet the needs of papermakers in both North America and worldwide.
Byron Wall, who is Managing Director of Indulor America LP, will also be Managing Director of the new BLANKOPHOR Division. Mr. Wall noted that "we are working very closely with Kemira to ensure a seamless transition and every customer can rest assured that the transition to BLANKOPHOR will be a smooth process with no disruption to deliveries or customer support. Blankophor takes great pride in its reputation as a customer service-oriented company and we're confident that every customer will notice this commitment immediately."
Kemira's Customer Service Department will continue to process all orders through the end of 2010 while Blankophor representatives begin the transition process to Blankophor with each customer, which will take effect January 1, 2011.
